July 13, 2010 –
The Aeronautical Repair Station Association (ARSA) which represents and
advocates for aviation repair stations and manufacturing companies for
over 25 years congratulated John Pistole on his confirmation as the
Transportation Security Agency’s (TSA) new administrator in a letter on
Monday. ASA also took the opportunity to raise some concerns regarding
certificating new foreign aircraft repair stations.

John S. Pistole,
former Deputy Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation was
nominated by President Barack Obama to serve as Administrator of the
Transportation Security Administration (TSA) on May 17, 2010 and was
unanimously confirmed to serve in that position by the United States
Senate on June 25, 2010.

Pistole was one of two FBI officials who
approved a memo laying out the FBI's policy on the limits to the
interrogation of captives taken during the
United States' war on terror. The
memo was from the FBI's General Counsel, to all offices, explaining
that FBI officials were not allowed to engage in coercive
interrogations.

The letter stated in essence “Good security is good
business,” ARSA pledged to aid TSA in promoting safety and developing
final security rules for foreign and domestic aviation repair stations.
“ARSA welcomes the opportunity to assist in developing TSA’s final
repair station security rules in a manner that recognizes that a
‘one-size fits all’ approach is insufficient for a global industry,”
wrote ARSA Executive Director Sarah MacLeod.

“I look forward to working with you and your team to
ensure the final TSA rule promotes safety and security without
unnecessary regulatory burdens and costs on the small to medium-sized
businesses that are the backbone of our industry.”

ARSA further indicated that TSA’s failure to meet
legislative deadlines for issuing repair station security regulations
has resulted in Congress punishing the aviation maintenance industry by
banning the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) from certificating new
foreign repair stations. While the agency released its draft rules last
fall, the certification prohibition will remain in place until TSA
finalizes the rules and conducts security audits of all foreign repair
stations.
The FAA’s inability to certificate new repair stations is stifling
growth in the aviation maintenance sector, which employs 274,634
American workers and has a $39 billion economic impact on the U.S. economy.